Let’s Talk Emotions! Pt. 2 “Quit The Denial” Campaign

Welcome to the second series of “Let’s Talk Emotions”! Read the first series, pretty please! Since I promised you all a non tragic ad, this next one will sure alter individuals’ way of thinking about smoking, specifically social smoking. And what did they compare social smoking to? Let’s find out!

Social Farting by Canada’s Ministry of Health

quitthedenial.ca

Why it works:

It seems that anti – smoking PSAs have taken over commercial breaks ranging from Truth, cdc.gov, Smokefree, and etc. At times, you would even encounter lots of graphic content. Sure it creates a feeling of fear and uneasiness. But, does it work half of the time? It does vary amongst different individuals. Generally, these advertisers want to inform simple facts about the dangers of smoking and its’ consequences. They believe that by using graphic content helps to point out the truth to viewers.

But anyway, let’s go back to this fairly humorous ad about social farting/social smoking. Many believe that social smoking is more acceptable than to often smoke on a regular basis. This ad illustrated otherwise. Obviously, they attempt to convince viewers that “social farting is as ridiculous as social smoking”. Even though one may occasionally or socially smoke or “fart”, they may start to become comfortable, thus will lead to an addiction. Well, of course “farting” does not become an addiction, however, it will become habitual. It is analogous to social smoking. In conclusion, this ad certainly does not offer scare tactic, like some of the anti – smoking campaigns out there. Viewers find it easy to comprehend the message behind this ad. The idea may be a bit kooky and fairly amusing, at least to me. But it does serve the right message. I hope more and more viewers in general will stop believing that social smoking is acceptable. To stop this kind of action prevents risk of addiction. And that’s what the message of this ad aims to do!